Abstract：Chinese word of minzhu has been used in early pre-Qin Dynasty, but the meaning of it is quite different from what we are using today;however, the concept of minzhu in modern Chinese was translated from the Western concept of the English word democracy in the nineteenth century, then it replaces and rebuilt the meaning of this old Chinese concept in the social and political practice.By analyzing the meaning of the Chinese concept minzhu that had been used in 19th century when the concept democracy was brought into China for the first time, the author intends to get an understanding of how we cognized and adopted the concept which is different from our tradition.

Keyword：nineteenth century;China;democracy;trans-lingual practice;